How to Spend a Day in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica - 8-5-2012

Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

After spending three days in Bocas Del Toro, Panama at the end of July 2012, I took a side trip to Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Puerto Viejo is a great little sea side town on Costa Rica's Caribbean side, about an hour north of the Panamanian border. Puerto Viejo definitely has a stronger Afro-Caribbean feel than anywhere I have visited on Costa Rica's Pacific Coast. We saw plenty of sun despite visiting during the rainy season.

There are plenty of hostels and budget hotels in town, but three are worth mentioning. Rocking J's is about a 15 minute walk south out of town and is Lonely Planet's pick for Puerto Viejo. This huge, beach side hostel sports its own bar and a sizable built-in backpacker community with which to hang out. Rocking J's also enjoys a party spot reputation, making it a great place to party and meet folks.

Just north and across the street from Rocking J's is it's polar opposite, La Ruca. La Ruca is smaller, much quieter, and much more hippie. When my traveling companions and I walked in, several bearded hippie guys were strumming guitars and smoking while their female companions listened quietly. The friendly staff showed us a private room and the dorms. I liked the granola vibe, the private bathroom attached to the private room, and the numerous trees and flowers on the property, but my traveling companions were looking for something more...conventional.

Lazy Mon is right in town, right on the beach, offers a dorm and several private rooms with balconies overlooking the beach. There's a bar restaurant right downstairs that features foosball tables and talented singer-songwriter music nearly every night. Its location in the heart of Puerto Viejo, chill vibe, and beach side access made it a great choice for my traveling companions and I. Dorm beds are $15 per night and private rooms are $25 per night.



Baby Sloth at Jaguar Rescue Center, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

Once you've checked in to your place, you'll definitely want to check out Puerto Viejo's list of things to do. At the top of that list for my traveling companions and I was the Jaguar Rescue Center, a 25 minute bike ride south of town. We rented bikes for $5 for the whole day at a spot across the street from Lazy Mon. The Jaguar Rescue Center doesn't have any jaguars, and only very rarely does. The center is named after the first animal they tried to save, a jaguar. The center does have monkeys, plenty of baby sloths and a whole lot of snakes. Do note that the center is neither a zoo, nor a preserve. The center nurses injured animals back to health and then releases them into the wild as soon as they are ready. Certain animals can't be released back into the wild because they were kept as pets. These animals are instead released into the nearby forest, also part of the preserve, and are regularly offered food if their hunting skills are weak (perhaps because their parents were killed and were unable to teach the animal wilderness skills). Highlights of the tour included seeing baby three toed and two toed sloths and having monkeys climb all over us for 15 minutes in the monkey reserve.

Tours happen every two hours and last about two hours in total. The preserve conducts tours in English and Spanish. Entrance is $15. Contact them at 506-2750-0710 or jaguar.resc@gmail.com. Check out their website at www.jaguarrescue.com.





Punta Uva, Costa Rica

About 15 minutes south of the Jaguar Rescue Center by bike is Punta Uva with Playa Manzanillo about 10 minutes further south of that. Punta Uva is a beautiful white sand beach that emerges from thick jungle. It's in the community of Cocles, which has several restaurants and hostels, so don't expect to be alone. Also, don't try to swim outside of the red flags posted on the beach because the rip tides get bad there.





Playa Manzanillo, Costa Rica

For a truly deserted beach, bike south to Playa Manzanillo. There are few signs, but you'll see beach access through trails that lead through the thick jungle and mangrove swamp. The brief trek from road to beach is worth it, though. Playa Manzanillo is a picture perfect, deserted, white sand beach with clear warm water and moderate currents. My companions and I spent about an hour there sunning and taking pictures of the beach's striking beauty. Palm trees stretched over turquoise waters, and thick green jungle hid all sings of the road and human civilization. Aside from my traveling companions, not a single person disturbed the peace. If you've got the time, go to Playa Manzanillo.

Alright...now you've visited an animal rescue center and biked to two beaches...the second of which is nearly beautiful beyond words. How do you cap off your day? Tasty Waves is a small bar just north of Rocking J's and is the perfect place to go nuts with the locals (Tuesday night is when the entire town hits up Tasty Waves) or melt into the Caribbean ease with a beer and a game of pool on the other nights of the week. Alternatively, you could hit up Stanford's bar beneath Lazy Mon for foosball and live music. The live music ends around 9:00PM, though, so you could easily start your night at Lazy Mon and end at Tasty Waves. A cab ride from town to Tasty Waves should cost no more than $5 round trip. Make sure to arrange a time for your driver to pick you up because it's a long, dark walk back into town from Tasty Waves.

Safety Notes:
Our hostel's manager, Justin, advised that parts of the town are not safe for tourists after dark. Take a cab if traveling after dark, especially of going to the bars in the far south end of town like Tasty Waves.

Back to Panama After All - 8-2-2012

View from Lazy Loft, Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica

You can disregard my last post.


It's raining today in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica. Hard. It started last night with the strobe of lightning and the crash of thunder. My Irish traveling companion is going to San Jose, Costa Rica today. I'm staying one more night to listen to the rain and enjoy peace before heading back to Bocas Del Toro, Panama in the morning.


I don't regret interrupting my Panama trip to visit Puerto Viejo. I don't regret meeting Jen from Dublin. I certainly don't regret the fevered rush of promises made by and to a beautiful woman an hour from sunrise, made potent by four year old Flor de Cana, made intoxicating by the sound of summer thunderstorms and sweetened by the slow swing dance moves I taught her in the early morning. It's almost always the things I didn't do that I regret...not the things I did do.


Panama waits for me; new towns wait for me too. And perhaps on a bus, or in a hostel, or on a tour, a new traveling companion waits for me too. I can't wait to show her how to swing dance.

Bocas del Toro and Back in Costa Rica - 8-1-2012

Bocas Del Toro, Panama

As usual, I haven't been keeping up with my blog because I've been doing a lot and meeting amazing people on the road. Stay tuned for a post about Panama Viejo (the original Panama City).

Anyway, speaking of amazing people, I've met one such person. After Panama City, I headed up to Bocas del Toro, a backpacker hub and picture perfect archipelago not far from the Costa Rican border. I spent five rainy days there swimming and snorkeling happily in water that was almost bathwater warm. On my last day in Bocas, I met a really cool Irish woman who was headed through Costa Rica and then into Nicaragua to spend the last two weeks of her vacation before heading home to Dublin. Using ungodly amounts of rum and coke, a girlish smile, and the beautiful black magic all Irish brunettes seem to wield, she convinced me to blow up my plans for a solo trip through Panama to travel back into Costa Rica with her. That happened at 4:00AM on a Monday (I think). Four hours of sleep later, it still seemed like a good idea. We've been in Puerto Viejo...a new town for me...on the the Caribbean side of Costa Rica for a couple days. Tomorrow we're headed to San Jose to rent a car and then spend five days traveling up the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.

Yay travel adventures!

Home and Away - 6-30-2012

A few days ago, Dad told me something touching. He and I were talking about my recent travels and my desire to take this year off to travel more, enjoy my life and generally just "be." I told him, perfectly truthfully, that I haven't headed out again since returning from Costa Rica in late May because I've really enjoyed being home. I've also really enjoyed catching up with friends in LA, picking up new interests locally, meeting new people, and visiting San Francisco to reconnect with some of my best friends from business school (and to reconnect with the coolest city in America...sorry LA!).




Playa Samara, Costa Rica

You'll remember that a big insight from Costa Rica was that I should love and honor my friends and family by being with them, not just by thinking about them. Being kind and loving to my parents has remained a part of that, as was visiting my friends in San Francisco...friends who never gave up on our friendship despite me putting off visiting them for over two years as I focused on my finances to the exclusion of all else. I've also just enjoyed the opportunity to relax and savor my every moment at home without the pressure of a job or a commute or the weight of a boss' or staff's...or my own...expectations. Savoring my life daily, "la dolce vita" as it's called in Italy and "pura vida" as a Costa Rican would name it, was an additional purpose behind saving hard, rejecting consumerism, turning my back on television's vapidity, getting my finances in order and taking this extended break. In short, I've been home instead of traveling because being home has felt great, it is what I've wanted to do recently and...because I can.

I told Dad all of this and he said he really liked that I felt that way. He said that he and Mom are happy to have me here and they're both happy to see me so satisfied with my life. Then he told me that he hopes I always feel welcome at home, because indeed, I am welcome here. All the time. Forever.

I thought that was beautiful. Thanks Dad!




Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Still though, the road is whispering to me again and I can feel my restlessness building. I've started thinking of the other trips I intend to take this year and early next year. I'll almost certainly set foot in Panama for an extended trip before this summer is done. I'll be visiting New York in late summer or early autumn to see more friends I ignored for years. I'm going to fly to Vancouver to visit friends I made on the road for a short trip as well. Ecuador, Peru and the Amazon, with its mysterious ayahuasca vine, whisper to me as they have for years now. Chile, and its reputably libertarian politics and burgeoning economy, calls me, as it has for a year or so now. Even Italy whispers to me sweetly across the years, like a lost lover. As much as I have seen of Italy, I never grew tired of her.

I love being home, but the road calls me back to it. So soon, I'll be abroad once more...learning, growing, and forging myself into a stronger and wiser man...fulfilling the purpose of my time away from my career. Indeed, one of the things I'm working on during this break is listening to the universe when it quietly directs me somewhere. Looking back, I've nearly always waited until the whisper was raised to a scream because I've also nearly always tried to ignore this guidance. I'm listening now, though,...and I'm trying to listen better.

Review of Hostel Las Mariposas in Playa Samara - 6-21-2012



Hostel Las Mariposas in Playa Samara, Costa Rica



Hostel Las Mariposas in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Looking for a bright, fun, spacious, clean, airy hostel directly in Playa Samara with a great hostess? Look no further! Hostel Las Mariposas is the only hostel actually inside the town of Playa Samara (Casa Brian is about one mile outside of town -- see review here). The hostel's proximity to the Intercultura Spanish language school makes Las Mariposas a great place to stay if you're going to be studying at the the school, by the way. Leonie, a friendly and outgoing Dutch woman who I befriended on my 2009 trip to Costa Rica before she owned Hostel Las Mariposas, is the owner and your hostess. She knows all the events going on in town, can give you directions to local beaches or other towns, and is an all around delight to talk with. The hostel even has a guidebook available about Samara and its surroundings that will give you information on local restaurants, things to do and tours to take.




The first thing you'll notice about Las Mariposas is how airy it is. The front of the hostel has a large and colorfully painted and tiled covered patio with a communal dining table and three hammocks. The space is breezy, which is important in Costa Rica's heat, and frequently has people hanging out. There is a second communal dining table and another pair of hammocks underneath a roof further back in the hostel past the sink, freezer and garden. All in all, you will find plenty of space and plenty of opportunity to meet other folks, or to find a quiet spot all to yourself.






Free hugs!

Hostel Las Mariposas in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The second thing you'll notice is how pretty the grounds are. The hostel's countless flowers and private garden give Las Mariposas a homey feel. The reward is endless blooms of pink, red, orange and yellow that add to the hostel's relaxed, welcoming atmosphere. Also be sure to ask about the mango tree that gives hugs. It gives mangoes, too.






The third thing you'll notice is how cool everyone here. Leonie herself is endlessly patient and unremittingly friendly, as are the folks who help out around the hostel. Living in paradise will do that to you, I guess. The hostel's relaxed feel seeps into everyone who stays here. It's easy to spend an extra couple days here lying in the hammocks and chatting with other guests before you notice you were supposed to be in Tamarindo yesterday. I stayed at Las Mariposas for eight days in May 2012 and was impressed by the friendly and interesting people who flowed through. The coolest thing is that me and the other guests barbecued fresh fish and meat together twice. Beat that, Holiday Inn!

Your author on the left with new friends

Hostel Las Mariposas has one private room with a private bathroom (no sink, though) for $38 per night, one room with three beds for $15 per bed per night, and an eight room dorm room with beds for $15 per night. I only stayed in the private room, which gets stuffy at night but does come with a fan. Breakfast is $4; I suggest you go for the pancakes. The hostel accepts volunteers, which means you can stay for free if you help check in guests, change sheets, sweep up and such. I definitely recommend contacting Las Mariposas in advance to work out any volunteer arrangement; don't just show up and expect to stay for free in exchange for working.



Hostel Las Mariposas in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

So, how do you get here? First, there are signs all through Samara and the main road into town directing you to the hostel. I found the following to be the easiest way to find Hostel Las Mariposas. Walk down Samara's main street all the way to the beach. Turn right along the beach and walk until you reach the Intercultura campus; it's on the beach about 200 yards from the main street. You'll know you've found the campus because it's big, grassy and is filled with young North Americans and Western Europeans sitting on the grass or lounging in hammocks "studying" Spanish. Keep walking along the beach until you've reached the end of the campus. You'll see a dirt road that runs from the beach inland next to the school. Take that road and follow it another 100 yards. Hostel Las Mariposas will be right in front of you.



Check out the hostel's website at www.hostelmariposas.com and its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/hostelmariposas. Get in contact directly by hostel.lasmariposas@gmail.com

Review of Sheriff Rustic in Playa Samara - 5-22-2012

Sheriff Rustic in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Sheriff Rustic is a small "soda," the Costa Rican term for a small, locally owned restaurant, right on the beach in Playa Samara. Unlike the beach bars in town like La Vela Latina, Locanda and Lo Que Hay, Sheriff Rustic is open only for breakfast and lunch...no dinner and drink service. Also unlike those places, Sheriff Rustic has an authentic, easy feel to it that says in no uncertain terms, "this is how Ticos vacation."



Sheriff Rustic in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The soda serves local fare like beans and rice, casadas (meat, beans, rice, plantains and sometimes fresh fruit), fresh fruit, etc. and tourist food like hot dogs, burgers, fried chicken and similar fast food offerings. Burgers with fries are about $5, hot dogs go for $4. Traditional Costa Rican casadas go for between $6 and $7, depending on the meat you order. An Imperial is $2 and they serve it in a cup. I loved the fried chicken here. For $5, you get either a breast and wing or a thigh and leg, plus a pile of French fries and a mixed green salad with oil and vinegar dressing. The chicken was golden brown, juicy and seasoned to perfection -- flavorful, not salty. It's such a good deal for $5. I've heard the burgers and casadas are good too, but I stuck to the fried chicken...it was that good.

Sheriff Rustic in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Sheriff Rustic sits underneath an awning and is further shaded by the branches of several huge old trees. Both provide a welcome respite from the day's heat. The dark brown, heavy wooden tables and dark brown sand floor give the restaurant a rustic, beachy feel, as does the line of surfboards propped up against the tree right in front of the restaurant. Particularly strong high tides sometimes come up almost to the restaurant itself. Eat here during high tide and you can listen to the pounding waves while watching some of the best local surfers do their thing. Conversely, eat here during low tide and you're treated to a parade of expats, tourists and locals walking the wide beach as the waves lap lazily against the sand 100 yards away from your seat. In either case, the soft salsa music playing in the background really brings home the fact that you're vacationing in a beach side paradise.



Sheriff Rustic in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Find Sheriff Rustic by walking Samara's main street all the way to the beach, and then turn right at the sand. Walk about 50 yards and you'll see its tables and chairs behind Coco's Surf School. If you've reached Tutti Frutti, Bar Tabanuco, or the grass campus at the Intercultura Spanish School, turn around because you've gone too far down the beach.

My Life Is Amazing - 5-17-2012

View from San Jose Airport in Alajuela, Costa Rica

I'm sitting in the airport in San Jose, Costa Rica looking out at green hills and grassy plains while I wait for my flight to take me back home to Los Angeles. I've just spent a month in one of the most beautiful, gentle countries in the world visiting two old friends and making plenty of new ones. Even if I never see the new ones again, I'll always have my memories of them and so they'll always be with me...even if only a little bit. And as if that isn't enough, my parents are picking me up from LAX at midnight so I don't have to ride a shuttle home with strangers.

This is my Thursday.

My life is amazing.

Review of La Vela Latina in Playa Samara - 5-16-2012

La Vela Latina in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

La Vela Latina is an upscale, loungy beach bar in Playa Samara, Costa Rica. It was my favorite place to eat and one of my favorite places to grab a beer alone or with new friends from Casa Brian. Several rows of dark wood tables surrounded by low riding plastic Adirondak chairs provide ample seating on the sand. Just watch out for high tide because the tide sometimes laps up to the outermost chairs. Multiple large trees with thick canopies provide shade for the beach seating. Dogs commonly wander through the beach seating, and sometimes inside too. Relax though, they're friendly and are accustomed to tourists petting and feeding them. La Vela's front opens up creating a nearly seamless transition from beach seating to the dark wood floor, tables and chairs of the bar area proper.



La Vela Latina in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Even on a pleasant afternoon where tourists and expats alike sit outside and throw back Imperials to the pounding surf, you can usually find a table to yourself. There's plenty of seating inside too. If you can, get the first row of tables next to the wooden rail that separates the outside seating from the inside. Most of those chairs lean back nicely and rock a bit. Add in the downbeat trip hop or mellow reggae La Vela usually plays and you've got a relaxing spot to watch the waves, grab a bite or wait out an afternoon thunderstorm. I've done all three there and loved it.



La Vela Latina in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Of all the restaurants in town, I found La Vela's to be the most tasty, but also the most expensive. The menu is standard tourist fare including hamburgers, nachos, wraps, a steak, and plenty of exotic mixed and blended drinks. La Vela's burgers were too expensive (gor next door to El Ancla for nearly identical burgers for cheaper) and the nachos are more generous at Coco's Mexican Restaurant, but La Vela's Popcorn Chicken was awesome at $8.25 and includes a pile of French fries and a mixed green salad. Give it a try. La Vela runs 2-for-1 mixed drink specials every night of the week from 5PM to 7PM. Every Saturday around 5PM, La Vela also offers free sushi that you can eat off of bikini (and sushi) clad women.

From the beach at Samara's main street and looking into town, the easiest way to find La Vela Latina is to walk up the main street and take the first right. Walk to the end of this street past the tourist kiosk and Super Samara market (both on your left) all the way to the end of the street where it turns left. Instead of following the street left, turn right into the gravel parking lot for Locanada and La Vela Latina. La Vela is the restaurant on the right (and is also the one that does not have the sign that says "Locanda"). You can also find La Vela Latina by walking along the beach to the left (if facing towards the ocean and away from town). Walk past the first two beach bars on the left (Gusto Beach and Lo Que Hay). You'll shortly come upon three beach bars in a row. La Vela is the middle one. At night, look for its burning tiki torches. During the day, look for the sign advertising sushi.

Review of Casa Brian in Playa Samara - 5-12-2012

You should stay here. Really.

In 2009, I was going to stay here for four days and stayed for 19. That's how amazing the atmosphere here is. This time, I stayed for a full three weeks before moving to my other friend's hostel (post is forthcoming) to support her business. Casa Brian's owner, Brian, is a late 50-something Canadian ex-commercial fisherman, brewer, wild mushroom picker, logging camp cook, and God knows what else. He's almost deaf in one ear, so don't freak out if he's yelling at you. He's not angry; he's hard of hearing.

Brian himself is an amazing man with too many funny, tragic, adventuresome, and interesting stories to count. You may ask, “are his stories real?” The answer is yes...he's lived a more full and interesting life than damn near anyone you've met. Even better, he tells his stories with such detail and aplomb you'll think you were right there with him traveling Morocco, on a fishing boat off the Queen Charlotte islands, or going door to door in Southern California.

Never in my life have I stayed someplace where so many cool, open, interesting, relaxed people congregated, only to leave and then be replaced by people equally as cool, open, interesting, and relaxed as them. When it's full, Casa Brian's residents barbecue and party together like every night is Saturday night. When the Casa is slow, it feels easy and relaxed like a Sunday morning.



Dinner with friends at Casa Brian in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The other thing awesome about this place is that I have always met people here who were somehow directly related to the purpose of my trip. It happened last time and it happened again this time. Three years ago, I was desperate to feel free and I wanted people who could help me get there. Brian himself is one of the most freedom loving people I've met and I don't know how many hours he and I would talk about where I've been and where I wanted to head in my life. On that trip, I also met someone who strongly encouraged me to pursue my ideal life, words that carried me through the subsequent three years, and helped bring me to where I am today. This trip, I met several Brits and Canadians involved in non-traditional medicine and healing, Costa Ricans who taught me about unconditional love through their stories about missionary work in Africa, and seven awesome people from Vancouver (seriously, half of that city must be traveling in Costa Rica right now) with whom I took surfing lessons, barbequed and visited an animal sanctuary. And of course, I spent many afternoons philosophizing with Brian himself on the nature of love and freedom on this trip.

Yeah, you should stay here.



Casa Brian in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Now, logistical details...Brian has three private rooms that sleep two. These go for $35 per night for one person and $45 per night total for two people. He has two dorm rooms, one sleeps five and the other sleeps six. Dorm beds go for $17 per night. Included in your stay is an all you can eat breakfast of the freshest and sweetest fruit you've ever eaten, toast and jam, and beans and rice. On Sundays, Brian makes banana pancakes. Yum! Four hammocks, one couch and a communal dining table make it easy to make new friends.



Casa Brian in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The property is about one mile outside of downtown Samara. The easiest way to get here is to walk to the end of Samara's main street, turn left at the beach, walk along the beach for about one mile, walk past the last hotel this far out of town (Las Brisas Del Pacifico) and follow the path that runs past Las Brisas Del Pacifico until it turns into a dirt road. Casa Brian will be on the left side of the dirt road. It has a white metal gate and a small sign that says “Casa Brian.” Contact Brian at casabrian@hotmail.com. You won't be sorry. He's also in the current Lonely Planet guide to Costa Rica.

Just don't stay too long in the private rooms. I'll be back soon and I do enjoy the private room Brian puts me in.

Clement Part 2 - 5-5-2012



Sunset from Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The sun touches the horizon and sinks beneath it. Purple and navy replace soft orange and lavender.

“Where do you live in Paris,” I ask. Clement smiles sweetly as she describes home. She lives in a picturesque quarter of Paris – a flower shop in the ground floor of her apartment building and a bakery next door. A grocer 100m from her front door means she doesn't need to leave her little city within a city. “There is a park 300 meters away from my apartment. It is very nice. In the summer, children run, people eat...”

“And sleep?” I tease.

She smiles again. “Yes, and sleep.”

The sky is dark now, the sun gone and Samara's lights blinking alive. I ask about the boyfriend she mentioned offhandedly at La Vela Latina the previous night.

“How did you meet your boyfriend?”

“I met him in New Caledonia. He was the friend of a coworker. We were friends for one month, just friends, and then we decided we like each other.” She sips her beer.

Clement fell in love with a New Caledonian local who was 20 years older than her with two kids aged 18 and 25. Clement and he professed their love for each other when they were in New Caledonia. “It's complicated,” she tells me softly. “He says he will come to France but I don't think so. His children are in New Caledonia. When we talked yesterday, we talked only about what we did in the day. I tell him I love him and he does not know what he wants. How can you be 50 and not know what you want?”

She continues, “there is another woman who is trying to come back to him. I don't like her, I am very jealous. I call and she pick up the phone and she treats me like his friend.” It's complicated,” Clement tells me again, softly.

She stares out at the night, her voice barely above a whisper.“I am on this trip for myself, not for him. So I do what I wish. I want to dive, so I go dive.” She is going to visit a few other spots in Costa Rica before moving onto Panama, Nicaragua, Belize and perhaps someplace else. She has two months before going back to France, two months to find closure on her trip.

She tells me more and I listen. The talks quietly of her love for her boyfriend, their past and the confusion of their future. She tells me about the diving she wants to do and I wonder if she'll find peace or an escape if she just visits enough beaches. When she stops speaking, we sit in silence together for a long while, sipping in our beers and the burgeoning night before departing.

Clement Part 1 - 5-4-2012

Ocean view from Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Clement was French, from Paris. Her blond hair and blue eyes complemented her graceful body. I thought she might have been a dancer. She was a nurse. Clement most recently worked in New Caledonia (French Polynesia to Americans) for six months.

It was nearly sunset by the time she and I walked through town and up the hill to Barracuda on Sunday evening. Clement kept to herself at Casa Brian. She was self conscious about her English but was talkative once comfortable with someone. I thought she had a pretty accent. Clement went diving most of Saturday. We went for drinks at La Vela Latina that evening, then I walked her part way to the hostel before I went into town for dinner and to enjoy Samara's night life. This afternoon, Sunday, I invited her to Barracuda to take pictures of Samara with me. Our conversation drifted from empty small talk to childhood nostalgia to complicated heartache as the afternoon advanced to evening, then darkened to night.

Downtown Samara from Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The sky is a palette of pastels, pink and lavender in the west, blue with a touch of purple in the east, as we arrive at Barracuda's upper patio. We both take some pictures then settle into stools across a glass table. "Cheers," I say and we touch beer cans.

“Do you have brothers or sisters,” I ask.

“I have one brother,” she tells me.

“Were you close growing up?” I ask the question a couple different ways because she does not understand, then she answers.

“We were very different when we were young, and he was three years younger than me,”' she explains between sips of her Imperial. “Now we are...” she gestures with her fingers, placing one far apart from the other, then bringing them together. “How do you say...not distant, but...,” she pauses.

“Close,” I offer.

“Close. Yes. We became closer as we got older.”

A gentle breeze drifts through the upper patio. “Did you have pets growing up, or now?”

“I had a cat before I left France. I love cats. When I move to New Caledonia, I gave my brother my cat to watch but he ran away. I was very sad.” She pouts to bring home the point. “My brother and wife's son, what do you say in English?

“Your nephew.”

“Yes, my nephew like to pet the cat and chase him but my cat like to sit and sleep. He did not like so he ran away.”

“Chat noir?” I ask.

“He was black in the body, and had white on his...she gestures to her hands and looks at me for help.”

“Paws?”

“Yes, paws. He had white on his paws.” She pauses. “I miss him. And you? Did you have cats or dogs?”

“I had fish and a couple parrots. I tried to teach the parrots to talk but they would only speak parrot,” I say. She smiles.

“Yes. I had fish too. All they did was swim.”

“What does your brother do?”

Clement's younger brother works in construction. “He builds everything...government, houses, he can build anything,” she explains. He married a Cambodian woman, a secretary in her home country. She speaks little French and so does not work. Their three year old, however, speaks some French, Cambodian and English. Talented kid.

Shortening My Trip - 5-2-2012

Pacific Ocean from Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica



Upstairs bar at Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Upstairs at Barracuda, Jack Johnson was playing on the stereo and warm breezes touched my skin as I drank my frosty Imperial. I admired the baby blue sky and sapphire water interspersed with white caps. I felt peaceful, more peaceful than I had since the Canadians left two days prior. And that's when it started to hit me. On this trip, I wanted to learn how to love unconditionally. Well, if I am supposed to love my friends and my family unconditionally, then the best way to love them is to be with them. For my parents, that means being at home, or at least close to it. For my friends in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, that means visiting them. Me hanging out in Samara for six weeks does not bring love to the people who love me, though I do acknowledge that it took coming down here for me to realize that.

Up at Barracuda, I started thinking about this freedom that I've scrimped and saved for. For six years, I've put off living, and starting my own life in favor of working stressful jobs, commuting long distances and living with my parents specifically so I could get out of debt as quickly as possible and put together enough money to travel for a very long time. I have accomplished these things.

But here's the kicker: I didn't realize just how much I changed from my last trip through Playa Samara until I got back here. I see that I don't actually want to be a perpetual traveler anymore. I do still want the option to bail on a job whenever I desire and without financial concern, and I certainly want to be able to travel when I want. For the first time in my life, though, I feel like the next step for me is to set down roots, not collect passport stamps. I want to find a job that complements or serves my personal purpose rather than only putting money in my pocket. That might mean something corporate; it might mean a clean break from my corporate past. I also want to find a girlfriend who shares my values. I want to move out of my parents' house, and be a better friend to my friends by visiting them often.

 

Swimming pool at Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

That's when I decided, amid the warm breeze, postcard view and easy Jack Johnson songs that I have to go home. I have to go home and bring love to the people who love me by visiting them in NYC and SF and wherever else they may be. I have to go home and build a life, not run from things I don't want...but really build life that any man would love to live. Sitting on a beach in Costa Rica isn't moving me towards these things, even though I had to fly down here, sit on a beach (well...hilltop bar), meet a whole bunch of people, clean up loose ends and do lots of writing here in Costa Rica to realize this.

Later that Saturday afternoon, I changed my flight home and shortened my trip by two weeks. That gives me over two and a half weeks to get into random adventures here, meet more people, and gain further insights while also moving me two weeks closer to building an awesome life at home. Shortening my trip also pulls some pressure off me here. Now that I'm just passing through, I can just have fun without worrying that I'm not making friends with other folks who'll stay for a while. That's liberating too.

The Former Club Barracuda - 5-1-2012

Barracuda is a former dance club I visited several times on my last trip through Samara. The club even had a mechanical bull, which I never rode. Rosa, one of Brian's friends, mentioned that it's not a club anymore, but is still a cool place to hang out. Fresh from my closure regarding Irish Jane, and feeling better about the Canadians' recent departures (I'll do a separate post for them; they were awesome), I resolved to explore the former club on Saturday the 28th.



Forest path to Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The path to Barracuda breaks off from the main road just outside of town; it's just an unmarked grass path that turns upward sharply on the left side of the road as you leave town. I missed it the first time, went back into town and got correct directions from a helpful hotelier, Julie, at the Tico Adventure Lodge. I spotted the grass path the second time and took it. The sounds of the road and town faded into silence beneath a green canopy. Only the sound of my feet on gravel and grass broke the morning silence. I followed the path up and spotted the gate.

A concrete path led further up past several small, white cabinas on my left to the former dance club. It was quiet, the cabinas empty. An older blond woman came out to welcome me. In quickly-spoken Spanish, I think she asked me if I wanted to enjoy the view or swim in the pool. I wanted neither but didn't know what to say. “Cerveza?” she smiled, and I agreed. I could use a beer after that climb. She led me into the outer patio, a white concrete area with shade tents, comfy wood and canvas sunning chairs and a small wading pool.



Cabana at Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

The club was built on a cliff; I could see all of Playa Samara from Barracuda's patio. Once, the area next to a big shade tent opened into the club. Now, though, a large bar with a sign reading “Beach Club” behind it sat in front of a wall that once led to a dance floor. "Pilsen? Imperial?" the helpful woman asked with a smile.“Imperial,” I answered. She went in the back and came out with a can. I paid her $2.00, thanked her and went exploring upstairs.

Pacific Ocean from Barracuda in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Three years ago, the upstairs floor led back into the club's second floor. Today, a back wall sealed off the upper deck, preventing entrance to whatever happened to the rest of the club. The view, though, was still spectacular. Four tables with stools were spread across the vast, rectangular floor, with chest-high glass preventing people from falling over to the concrete patio and airy tents below. A high ceiling left plenty of space for the morning breeze. I had the entire floor to myself as I admired my 200 degree view.

Downtown Playa Samara, Costa Rica

My far left view was green trees and green hills. Just to the right, I could see the entire curve of Playa Samara with Punta Islita just off shore. Continuing right, I could see Playa Samara spread out before me on land, and white caps crashing against the coral reef offshore. Small figures walked or bicycled the straight main street leading to the beach. Further right, I could see the tide pools at the far end of Playa Samara, where the beached curved back out to the sea and ended. To the extreme right, I could see another cove open up with blue ocean beyond it – Playa Buena Vista. The views were stunning, and enhanced further by the springtime sun.

Not many people in Samara know about Barracuda now that it is a series of cabinas instead of a rowdy bar, but definitely make the hike up to the former club. And bring your camera; you won't be sorry.

Rum and Coke - 4-24-2012

Casa Brian in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

I've often had trouble sharing. Some of that came from a certain miserliness and some came from my belief that giving things to people to curry favor was tantamount to bribing people to be my friend. When I came through Casa Brian three years ago, I remember I had difficulty sharing some of the food or beer or whatever that I kept around the hostel. There's no expectation that someone has to share their stuff here, so no one gave me any grief.

On my second day here during my current trip, two Canadian couples who were traveling together checked in. Earlier that day, I had stopped by a local market to pick up some groceries, rum and coke among them. The Canadians seemed friendly, I was looking for folks to hang out with and befriend, and so I started offering the four Canadians rum and cokes from my own stash. They were quite appreciative of it and I soon became friends with the five of them. Sunday, the five of us got surfing lessons together (I'm achy and stiff and fell too many times to count, and it was still fun) and the two guys cooked an amazing dinner for the entire hostel that night, complete with five red snappers, a kilo of prawns, avacado & tomato salad and a couple skillets of seasoned potatoes. They didn't ask any payment for their dazzling cooking and I happily shared my rum and coke with anyone who wanted it.

Casa Brian in Playa Samara, Costa Rica

Offering my stash at first meeting and again during dinner felt good, and the difference this time was that I looked at offering my rum and coke as adding value (or unconditional love) to the lives of folks I just met, not as bribing people to be my friend for a while. It was a small but important mental shift. A friend back home talks a lot about how important it is to add value to others' lives and I couldn't help but think of him the first time I poured the Canadians some rum and coke.

Since that first shared drink, the five of us have gone surfing again, and one of the women even gave me surf lessons (which was doubly ironic since I grew up a stone's throw from Huntington Beach and she was born hundreds of miles from the ocean in southeastern British Colombia) that really helped me out. The two guys are even cooking for everyone again tonight!

So there you go...this story was a good lesson to me that adding value to others' lives, even if it's just a friendly face and a cold drink far from home, comes right back and adds value to my own life. Spread love and others will do the same. Who knew?

Already Free - 4-21-2012

The morning of my flight to Costa Rica, I realized...and I mean REALLY realized that I had finally attained the freedom I touched during my 2009 trip to Costa Rica, the freedom I scrimped and saved money to buy for six long years. I didn't need to go to Costa Rica to find freedom. I was already free and I got there by the life choices I made.

This is how I realized that. By the time I received my last dollar of severance and paid-out vacation time in March 2012, I had long vanquished my debt, had hit the final wealth metrics that I set out to hit while at that job, and even assembled a small passive income stream. The 40 or so days between my layoff and my departure to Costa Rica felt amazing. I went on Tuesday afternoon bike rides along the beach, began attending Wednesday lunchtime yoga classes, spent afternoons painting wood for a gate Dad and my uncle were going to build. I cooked dinner for my parents just because I could. I lived without financial concern. I felt free because I was free.

But, then what does that mean for this trip? What is this trip about if I now see I DON'T need to travel to be free? Hedonism? Adventure? Lazy vacation? Some combination of these and other things?

This trip is about self-improvement. I've got plenty to work on and plenty of time in which to do it. Six weeks in Costa Rica gets me away from my daily routine at home, back someplace I've wanted for two years to see again, and (at Playa Samara and Casa Brian) someplace where I know I'll meet a steady flow of folks unlike me, and in a safe environment.

This trip is also a mellow vacation. I bounced around the country three years ago, saw monkeys and rain forests and tourist bars crowded with folks looking to hookup or get drunk. I'm over it. I don't need to prove to myself or anyone else this time that I can make random friends for two days, hike a rainforest, or pound drinks with Brits. I've done all that. I may do those things again, but I'll do them because doing so might be fun or enlightening, not because I'm trying to prove to myself that I can do such things.

Back in Costa Rica. Starting in San Jose. - 4-20-2012

In March 2009, I was burned out from my career and desired freedom from both my student loan debt and a career path I regarded as a mistake. I so badly just wanted to run away and escape that I toyed with making a living taking travel photos, writing travel stories, even tagging dolphins in the Caribbean for marine biologists. I also remembered how free I felt when I traveled Europe for10 weeks in 2005, and how happy I was to take Mom and Dad around Italy the next year. I also felt like I had something to prove to myself and to the world after my perceived career failures. Consequently, I booked a thirty-three day trip to Costa Rica for March and April 2009 and this blog was born. The trip was freeing, fun, illuminating, and highly motivating, as my entries from that trip showed and as my life since has confirmed. That trip was an amazing growth experience and a powerful expression of my personal freedom.

Fast forward to April 2012 and here I am in Costa Rica again, at Costa Rica Backpackers in San Jose. The same way I started my trip three years ago. So far, my return feels good, and different. When I booked this trip after being laid off from my last job, I assumed this trip would feel just like the last one. This trip would be an adventure taking me from town to town in such a way that my sense of freedom would be overpowering. The purpose of this trip has evolved since then, and now I do not forsee hopping from town to town, or bar to bar. I'll elaborate in my next post.

Costa Rica, A Review - Sunday 4-26-2009

Playa Samara, Costa Rica

You should go to Costa Rica.

The country is beautiful. I loved Costa Rica's gorgeous natural environments. The Monteverde and Santa Elena nature preserves house ancient hundred foot (and taller!) trees, which provide shelter to white-faced monkeys, howler monkeys, rainbow colored parrots and toucans, exotic tree-climbing mammals, and rare snakes. One day in Monteverde, I found waterfall and lagoon tucked away in the jungle, hidden down a kilometer-long walk past of vines, ferns and huge trees. I had the entire falls, lagoon and jungle all to myself. It felt like being in a picture in a travel magazine showing places too isolated and spectacular to really exist. The countryside is similarly beautiful, with acre after acre of green, undeveloped rain forest, ranch land, and farmland.

There is plenty of opportunity for water sports. My water sports included only swimming and sitting under palm trees, but that's just me. The surf on the Pacific Coast is reportedly some of the best in the world, especially at Montezuma, Santa Teresa and Mal Pais, but there is ample opportunity to surf at beaches on both coasts. In Playa Tamarindo and Playa Samara, numerous tour operators fishing, snorkeling, or marine-life viewing tours. I understand tour operators in beach communities all around the country offer the same. I also understand that the snorkeling near Playa Hermosa and Cahuita is amazing. In Playa Tamarindo and Monteverde and Santa Elena, I saw brochures for river rafting trips, too.

The country is cheap, especially compared to Western Europe and Australia. I never paid more than $35 per night for a private room with at least a double bed, including pillows, linens, and towels. This fee often included a private bathroom and breakfast. Meals were at least $8 each in Playa Tamarindo and Monteverde and Santa Elena, but those places are tourist traps. I could feed myself with hearty meals for $10-$12 per day in San Jose and Playa Samara. Playa Samara was particularly cheap, and the food was always tasty.

It is easy to go upscale in Costa Rica. Every town I stopped at had expensive, resort-type hotels. You do not have to spend under $40 per night for a private room at a hostel to enjoy Costa Rica. There are plenty of luxury options.

Costa Ricans are friendly. More than once on my trip, I must have looked terribly confused because a helpful local came up to me and asked me in perfect English if I needed help. In each case, I explained where I was trying to go and the local directed me to my destination or told me exactly where I was. The hotel staff, restaurant staff, and tour staff I dealt with were also universally helpful.

The backpackers are friendly, too. I met so many interesting, friendly, worldly, talkative, and generally cool people at the hostels I stayed at. For the record, I stayed at Costa Rica Backpackers & Guesthouse in San Jose (www.costaricabackpackers.com; phone: 2221 6191), Manakin Lodge in Monteverde (www.manakinlodge.com; phone: 2645 5058), Hostel Botella de Leche in Playa Tamarindo (www.labotelladeleche.com; phone: 2653 0189), Cabinas Marielos in Playa Tamarindo (phone and fax: 2653 0141), and Casa Brian in Playa Samara (casabrian@hotmail.com; phone: 2656 0315).

Two Days in San Jose and the Flight Home - Monday 4-20-2009 and Tuesday 4-21-2009

Monday and Tuesday proceed similarly. I have lunch with Nicolas at the Mercado Central (I have the fried chicken with tortillas at Soda San Cristobal for 1,950 colones both days), he tells me he is ready to leave San Jose and return to Quebec, and I do a lot of listening because he has a lot to say about everything. On Monday, he asks our waitress at Soda San Cristobal if she would like to meet him for dinner on Tuesday. She agrees. After this, he talks a lot about how excited he is for his date. When we go back to Soda San Cristobal on Tuesday for lunch, the waitress is there again and Nicolas gets a confirmation that she will meet him later that day for dinner. Monday after lunch, we walk the blocks just to the south and west of the Mercado Central. Every store front facing the avenidas and calles is occupied, the merchants selling everything from fresh produce of every color, to childrens’ toys, to cell phones, to baked goods, to clothing, lingere, and other apparel for both men and women. Crowds are thick on both days. Nicolas and I weave our way through and around groups of pedestrians. Street vendors yell out the name of vegetables to passersby, hoping to attract a buyer. Old women sit at small wooden tables covered with lottery tickets. The destitute approach the slightly better off and beg for money. Taxis and trucks honk warnings to pedestrians as they zoom down the narrow streets. I will miss San Jose and its vibrant, chaotic life. Monday afternoon, I find a souvenir doll for my aunt at a t-shirt shop in a quiet alley in the Mercado Central. Tuesday afternoon, Nicolas and I walk to a park at the Costa Rica Gran Hotel and across the street from the Teatro Nacional and enjoy the early afternoon. Throngs of people walk by – businessmen in suits carrying expensive leather cases, teenagers talking on cell phones, couples walking hand in hand, old men with worn faces wearing threadbare clothes, private school students in their uniforms, tourists with folding maps.

I bid Nicolas goodbye on Tuesday afternoon and walk back to the hostel. Monday night, I arranged for a shuttle to drive me to the airport today. The shuttle driver arrives and I bid goodbye to Juan Carlos at the front desk. On the way out of town, we pass Parque Morazan. Laura and I walked through Parque Morazan the afternoon I showed her around San Jose. Further on, we drive past the hotel where Ricardo and Fernando stayed in San Jose; I remember it from when the shuttle to Monteverde stopped there several weeks ago. The 17 kilometer drive from hostel to airport takes forty-five minutes in San Jose’s heavy afternoon traffic. The driver wishes me good journey and pats me on the arm. Checking in, immigration, and security take all of fifteen minutes together. I spend the next three hours sitting at my gate enjoying the Juan Santamaria International’s free wireless. The plane boards at 6:35PM and takes off at 7:15PM. I bid adios to Costa Rica as the countryside rushes by and the plane lifts off for Los Angeles.